Stages
by The Peaceful Chaotic
Summary: In each stage of her life she fell for him a bit harder.


**A/N: Tokka FTW!**

In every stage of her life she fell for him a bit harder.

The first time she fell was when she was twelve. At this stage she acted normal enough around him, but the crush was still obvious. Her aggression towards him, punching his arm, dumping him on top of Katara and of course her sarcastic comments that almost always revolved around him, all of this made the crush painfully obvious to everyone but Sokka himself. He was one of the few to ever truly understand her. But he was with Suki, and that was all he could think about.

The second time Toph fell was when she was fifteen. At this stage she started too wear dresses to parties, the proper formal wear, each with a formfitting torso and were loose from the waist down. Sokka had just broken up with break-up had been messy. She'd cheated on him, several times apparently. So, while Toph complimented Toph at least twice every time she wore something different to her comfortable earthbending clothes, she could tell it was only because he knew how hard it was for her to be in those clothes. His heart still raced around Suki. Toph knew that he wouldn't get over her for quite a while. Suki was that type of girl.

The third time she had just turned twenty. This time she knew it wasn't just a crush, that her heart would keep racing every time he walked into the room, every time he complimented her heart would soar, make her feel like dancing. This time she disguised it by going out with other boys. Teo lasted the longest, but that was only because he was trying to make someone jealous. Once she was walking past Katara and Sokka talking in a secluded spot on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. Katara asked Sokka why he was so jealous. Sokka responded 'because that guy's got everything I want.' Toph could only wonder who Suki's new boyfriend was.

The forth time was when she turned twenty-one.. She'd been of marrying age for years now and her parents had begged her to consider arranged marriage. She started to wear dresses out, some showed off her figure, some flowed loosely to the ground, but all where long, green and uncomfortable. These days when Sokka complimented her his heart raced. Not in the lying way, in the way hers used to when she felt his presence in the room, the way hers still did. It was when she was twenty-one that she began to question why she disguised her emotions. Love especially. Why was she so determined to keep this from Sokka?

It was also at twenty-one that they first danced together at the memorial ball. It had been clumsy, yet incredibly sweet.

The fifth time was her twenty-third birthday. That was the day Toph finally admitted her love to him, the day they finally shared their first kiss. In life this was one of her top five favourite days. She can still recall the feel of his lips pressed gently on to hers, his arms still clinging thin body to her long after their lips had parted. They had walked into the party holding hands, Sokka with a goofy grin on his face and Toph with a small, yet beautiful, smile on hers. No one took much notice. They knew it would happen eventually.

At age twenty-four she fell twice. The day he turned twenty-seven he asked her to marry him. The emotions radiating from him when his was down on one knee with the necklace, which was blue and green and had a delicate design of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe symbols over lapping, Or so she was told, was a mixture of fear and happiness. Toph knew he had nothing to fear. Didn't he know, she had thought, he just had to say I want you mine forever, and she was his?  
The second time that year was four months later. She walked down the isle, slightly anxious as Iroh was playing, whatever that thing he plays is at the reception, but all the while smiling happily. Her parents weren't there, they didn't approve of Sokka, but she didn't care. She was happy with her close friends and the man she was going to be with for the rest of her life. The ceremony was beautiful, meaningful and everything she ever dreamed of. It was perfection.

She fell twice more at the ages twenty-five and twenty-seven. The birth of her two children made Toph's heart burst with love for both the children and their father. Both times Sokka had stayed by her side while she was giving birth. Toph knew it must have been hard for him, but at the time she was just thinking about the pain she was in, never mind the fact that her husband was so close to fainting it was borderline ridiculous. Her children, Kata and Rena, were her joy. Even as children they reminded her so much of Sokka that they truly made her believe that neither of them had her traits. They had some of her flaws, she could see that though. Like how Kata was resentful about being blind, how just once he wished he could see the girl he had grown to like so much. Or how Rena couldn't just point blank say she liked someone. She had to hide her emotions until it almost hurt.

The last time was aged seventy-six. Sokka died in his sleep, leaving her alone for the last few years of her life. Somehow she knew he'd be in the Spirit World waiting for her. That thought gave her the hope she needed. She lived the last few years of her life tending to her grand children's needs. She knew that he'd loved her until his dying breath, so it wasn't a hard thing to love him until hers.

**A/N: This was written for the TFU Pic 'n' Fic on DeviantART! I almost didn't make the deadline. :)**

**Please review.**


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